Friction Burns and Bullet Holes
by AlbinoLungs
Summary: Red Arrow and a friend of his approach the team with a mission. The team accepts, but Wally doesn't like this new guy. Especially since he's flirting with Artemis and she's flirting back. But it's not like he cares, right?
1. Chapter 1

"3… 2… 1!" counted down Robin as he, Wally, and Artemis all began to violently chug their designated glass of … whatever it was. M'Gann has mixed something together, under the request of the three in the current competition. They had a bet going, and needed a forth-party outsider to concoct the mixture. They were competing to see how could finish their glass of … something first. Winner earned respect, loser had to throw each fight in Black Canary's training sessions for a whole month.

"Done!" yelled Artemis.

"Done!" yelled Robin.

"Gah…" gagged Wally.

Superboy, M'Gann, and Aqualad all applauded as Artemis milked her winnings by sarcastically bowing over and over again. "You know," she began. "Some call me a queen! Others, a God! They are both right!" The group (including Robin) all burst into laughter and louder applause. Wally, however, growled.

"We get it, okay? You won!" he sneered as he whipped his mouth. "Jesus, M'Gann, what the hell did you put into this thing?" he asked as he analyzed the turquoise liquid.

"Umm… mint ice cream, ketchup, barbeque sauce, soy sauce, and a bit of salt," said M'Gann as she listed off all the ingredients. Hearing the ingredients caused Wally to gagged again, to which Artemis laugh maniacally.

"For the fastest boy on are team, you sure do suck at these, Mr. High metabolism," she taunted as she dance around the room, letting her blonde hair flutter around her lower hips. Wally eyed her, but refused to say anything. He was scared that if he spoke, a waterfall of vomit would spill from his throat. However, he was able to grind his teeth at the sight of her celebrations. Maybe it was because he lost, but she was _really_ pissing him off today.

After Artemis felt satisfied in her celebrations, she glanced over to Wally with an evil smile growing on her face. There was one more part of the bet that Wally had to complete. "Now say it," she said in a whisper – but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Wally quickly looked away. "Never!" he vowed dramatically.

"Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it!" chanted the rest of the group as Wally's angry expression only grew more intense.

"Dude!" he said looking over to Robin, hoping that his closest friend would put an end to the humiliation.

Robin, however, just threw his head back in laughter. He was probably enjoying more then anybody "A deal is a deal. Now say it!" he demanded.

The group continued to chant as Wally's emerald eyes began to glare once more at Artemis's grey eyes. Just by looking at the expression on her face, he could tell that she was enjoying this whole thing too much. Her right, golden eyebrow was slight raised, and a very faint smile was stretched on her face, looking as though she was patiently waiting for something. Her hands were also on her hips as her body weight rested on her left hip, causing even her stance to look as though it possessed more authority over him. "Say it," she commanded calmly.

Wally released a sigh, and moved his eyes to look at the floor. "Artemis is a stone cold fox, and I'm her whinny little biatch," said Wally through gritted teeth. Artemis clapped her hands together in laughter along with the rest of the group. Even Kaldur was having a hard time keeping his laughter under control. M'Gann look as though she was laughing even harder then Robin. This was her first 'earth bet' and absolutely loved the outcome of it. Superboy was practically in tears as he tried to support himself on Robin's chair and Robin laughed his signature laugh. "Okay, okay, we're done now, right?" pleaded Wally, not wanting to take any more embarrassment.

Artemis let herself calm down before responding. "Yes, Kid Loser, we're done," she said with great satisfaction.

Wally freed a loud huff in angered thanks before trying to stand from his chair. However, as his body began to arise, a strong hand shot out and pushed him back into his seat.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Superboy evilly.

"What the hell? I thought you said I was done!" yelled Wally, trying hopelessly to push himself back up from Superboy's grip. However, it was useless. Superboy was way to strong for Wally to challenge.

"Loser does the dishes!" giggled M'Gann as she gestured to the full sink. Wally glanced over before roughly shaking his head.

"Nope! No way! I'm not doing that! That wasn't part of the bet!" he raged. He was right to; none of the competitors had said anything about doing the dishes.

In response to his answer, M'Gann pouted her lips a little, and clasped her hands together. When she had Wally's full eye contact, she made her eyes a little wider, and ever so softly knit her brows together. "Please, Wally?" she pleaded in her most innocent tone. She wasn't trying to trick him, she just _really_ didn't want to do the dishes.

Wally sighed. He didn't want to do the dishes either, but his hormones got in the way of his headstrong mind. "Anything for you, beautiful," he weakly winked. To this, M'Gann nodded in thanks and gently glided out of the room. Superboy followed her lead and chased after her out of the kitchen. Kaldur gave Wally a small pat on the back before leaving the kitchen himself.

Robin stood from his seat and also patted his friend on the back. "Maybe next time, bro!" laughed Robin as he too began to exit the kitchen as well.

When the group was gone, Wally dropped his head to the counter. This was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. Not only had he lost a bet in front of M'Gann, but he had lost the bet to _Artemis_. _The Artemis_! To him, that was worst then death.

Eventually though, he collected himself and trudged over to the kitchen sink. There wasn't much in there, just the blender M'Gann used to make the 'drink' and the glasses the competitors used to drink the liquid out of. Sighing again once more, he turned on the tap and began to scavenge around for the sponge. When he couldn't find it right away, he felt himself becoming really annoyed. "_Great! What a fucking crap-tacular day this is!"_ he thought to himself. "Where is it?" he asked, this time, out loud.

"Looking for this?"

Wally turned his head to see Artemis standing only a few feet away from him. In her right hand was a small yellow sponge – the one that Wally was looking for. What shocked him though was her presence. He didn't at all expect for _her_ to still be in the kitchen. But as he thought back on it, Wally didn't recall hearing or seeing Artemis leave the room. He just assumed he was on his own. "What do you want?" asked Wally, making a reach for the sponge. Unfortunately for him though, Artemis was too quick for him yet again as she dodge his on coming hand.

"Wow – you're _really_ slow today," she snickered.

Seeing her laugh at him made his blood boil on the inside. The last thing he needed was more ridicule from her. "You didn't answer my question," he growled. His hands were forming a tight fist and his brow was furrowed as he angrily glared at her.

Artemis noticed his growing rage, and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Calm down Kid Loser. I'm here to help," she said, joining his side at the sink.

Wally's hands suddenly fell at ease and his original expression of anger changed to a puzzled one. "You – want to help me?" he asked.

"Nothing gets by you," commented Artemis as she changed the water temperature from cold to hot.

Wally cocked an eyebrow at her seeming niceness. "W-why?" he asked. He honestly couldn't comprehend why Artemis would want to help him.

Artemis bit her lip slightly to keep from laughing. "Well not only did you embarrass yourself in front of the _whole_ team – you know, when you lost to a girl, came in dead last, had to-"

"I get it," he cut in, not wanting to hear his whole list of failures.

"But you let you hormones trick you into doing the dishes. That's just sad. So, I'm helping out of pity," she explained.

"That, or you just want to spend more time with me," said Wally as he wiggled his eyebrow at her.

She responded by giving him a light, but firm, kick to his left shin. Wally reacted by letting out a small yelp of pain and bent down to rub his aching leg. "You're impossible," she snarled.

"Just stating the facts, blondey," he mocked harshly, trying to sooth his shin with his hands.

"Look, do you want my help, or not?" she asked, extending her right arm out to him. Wally hesitated before grabbing for her hand with his. They always argued and fought like crazy, so Wally couldn't understand why she was being so nice to him. With ease, she pulled him up, and the two got to work. After a few moments of silently working, Wally picked up the first glass they had to clean. As he began to wash it, he couldn't help but notice a light pink lipstick smudge on the rim of the glass. Glancing over to Artemis, he saw that she was wearing a light pink lipstick colour herself.

"How _did_ you win?" he asked, returning to examining the glass. The last thing he needed was to be caught staring at her lips _"Which I wasn't,"_ he thought to himself.

Artemis thought on his for a moment, and then shrugged. "I don't have a gag reflex,"

Wally almost dropped the glass that he was holding in his hand. "_She doesn't have a gag reflex."_ He thought to himself. "W-what do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.

Artemis twisted her lips, once again, in deep though. "I just don't have one. I can put anything down my throat and not gag,"

"_She can put anything down her throat,_" Wally chewed over that thought over and over again, trying not to make eye contact.

"Yeah. Oh – I can also put my whole fist in my mouth,"

Wally literally had to stop working. Either the steam from the water was warming him up, or the temperature of the room grew to a hundred. Whatever it was, the heat was making standing next to her unbearable.

"Wanna see?"

Before he could object, Wally watched in awe as Artemis effortlessly slipped her left fist into her mouth. Wally was defenseless. He couldn't stop staring. It was amazing … and extremely hot.

She chuckled some before removing her fist and running it under the water. She knew he was staring, and enjoyed the attention. "Don't get to excited," she said as she returned to work.

Even if Wally wanted to respond, he couldn't. For one thing, he was still memorized at the action that Artemis had fluently completed. For another thing, his body was hot all over and he couldn't explain why. But the biggest reason would have to be that they were interrupted when they heard-

"Guys! Bats is here,"

The two turned to see Robin standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He was still in his street cloths so this visit from the Dark Knight wasn't scheduled. He was also out of breath, probably from running from one end of the mountain to the other.

"What? Why?" asked Artemis, quickly turning off the sink.

"I don't know. But come quickly! You know how he gets," warned Robin as he turned and began to run again to the main chamber.

Artemis glanced over at Wally with a worried and confused expression on her face. The glance only lasted for a second as she began to pace out of the kitchen herself. "Should we change-?" she called to Robin.

"No time! Just c'mon!" interrupted Robin as he yelled from a little ways down the hall.

Artemis exited the room swiftly, leaving Wally completely dumbfounded. He was still stuck in his trance, completely paralyzed as he replayed the image of Artemis shoving her fist into her own mouth in his head again and again.

"Come on!" yelled Artemis, slightly snapping Wally out of his abstraction.

When he heard her voice, Wally shook his head. "_What the hell Wally? Get it together! It was nothing,"_ he thought, trying to convince himself that it really was _nothing_.

He he began to lightly jogged down the hall (which to a normal person would be a full out sprint), until he caught up with Artemis. When he did, he noticed her smirking. Obviously, she was smirking at his reaction to her little trick. He frowned at that - He couldn't let her win this. He wouldn't allow for her to be satisfied. "Just so you know, I wasn't excited. I was grossed out," he whispered to her firmly.

Artemis lightly smiled to herself, but quickly went back to looking confused and annoyed. "Whatever, Baywatch. Just calm down before we see Batman,"

"I told you, I-"

"Glad you could make it,"

Wally hadn't realized it, but he must have walked into the main chamber without noticing it. Looking around, he saw his whole team staring back at him with puzzled expressions. But what scared him the most was the look that the Dark Knight was giving him. Knowing it would be better not to talk back. Wally hung his head in shame and looked to his feet.

"Recognizing: Red Arrow – Bee, Zero, Six"

A flash of white light , and there appeared the archer formally know Speedy. However, when Roy stepped out of the zeta tubes, he quickly surprised everyone. For one thing, he wasn't wearing his new uniform. Instead, he sported charcoal gray t-shirt and electric blue leather jacket. His pants were baggy dark-wash jeans and his shoes were a pair of old black runners. His eyes weren't covered by a mask, but with a thick pair of sunglasses that he probably wasn't going to remove anytime soon. No one on the team had ever seen him out of uniform before, but that's not what surprised them. What really got them was the person he was walking with.

Accompanying Roy was another boy that was his height and build. His slanted eyes gave evidence that he was Asian, and his hair was dirty blonde and extremely shaggy, seeming to stick out in every way possible. The boy had a narrower face then Roy's, and his chin was covered with light stubble – that kind of stubble that gives most guys that rugged look. His eyes were hazel and his arms and legs were big due to the protruding muscle. He wore a pair of light navy blue jeans and worn-out light brown hiking boots. Covering his chest was a loose fitting white tank top, and a red flannel unbuttoned shirt rested on his shoulders exposing the white top underneath. On his back was a huge backpack. It was probably the size of his torso and no one even tried to guess what was in there. As the two walked closer and closer to the team of curios teens, they could hear what seemed to be the end of a conversation.

"… and then the doctor said 'I'm pretty sure that's impossible if not illegal,'," explained the other boy with great enthusiasm.

"Then what?" asked Roy was a genuine interested and a slight smile on his face.

"I did it to her in the bathroom," shrugged the boy.

"No you didn't," smirked Roy.

"… you're right, I went to my friends house and put all of his little sister's Barbie girls in sexual positions."

Roy let out a hardy laugh. One that actually scared the group of younger teens because they had never heard it before, and never expected for a sound like that to be heard from Roy of all people.

When the two older boys finally reached the group, Batman cleared his throat loudly, and with authority. Roy shut his mouth right away, as did the unknown boy. There was something about even Batman's grunts that could silence a screaming baby.

"Who's the other guy, and why does he look so yummy?" whispered Artemis to M'Gann. M'Gann chuckled lightly in agreement. Apparently though, Artemis wasn't as quite as she had anticipated as moments later, Wally scoffed loudly. Artemis snapped her head in his direction and narrowed her eyes. "Got a problem, Kid Mouth?" she sassed.

Wally rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I do. You don't even know this guy and you're acting like a geeky fan girl," he snapped in retaliation.

"Since when do you care?" challenged Artemis, crossing her arms firmly.

Wally went to say something as his mouth cracked open. However, he was silence by the Dark Knights booming, yet subtle voice.

"I'm sure you've all met Red Arrow," began Batman. The younger teens murmured with positive responses. "He has requested your help for an assignment of his. Should you accept or deny – that's up to you. This is not a league priority, nor should it be yours," Everyone could detect the spitefulness in Batman's voice, however, no one could explain it. Yes, Red Arrow had abandoned the league some few months ago, but Batman would never _let_ a team pass up on a mission that could possibly save society. Red Arrow's eyes narrowed behind Batman's back. It was hard to see due to his sunglasses, but his harshly furrowed eyebrows gave him away. His glare stopped though when Batman turned back around. "They're all yours," he muttered sarcastically as he swiftly made his way back to the zeta tubes, leaving the young team with the two older boys.

"Affirmative, Captain!" called the unknown boy, giving a rather sassy and sarcastic salute to Batman. Artemis and M'Gann giggled at his seemingly unintentional mockery, and the other boys looked at him strangely. No one mocked Batman. No one. Batman was able to shoot one last glare before disappearing in gusto of white light, causing Artemis and M'Gann to silence their chuckles. "Jeez. What's up his ass?" asked the boy.

"Probably something he can beat your ass with if you ever ridicule him again," shot Robin. His fists were clenched and so was his jaw. Obviously, he didn't respect this new boy for poking fun at his beloved mentor.

"Scratch that; what's up _your_ ass, kid?" Robin growled slightly at the comment, not quite sure how to retaliate. Frowning at this new comer, Robin seemingly mumbled a 'whatever' under his breath which displeased the older boy. "Listen. If you ever say something snarky again, I'll punch you in the face. That's my rule," threatened the boy with a frown.

"And you should _all_ follow that, because he means it. He's actually pretty fucked up, so I suggest to all pay attention to him," noted Roy. His tone was menacing, and the lines of anger on his face matched.

Then, the angry expression that was on the unknown boys face quickly melted away to a giant smile. One where all of his sparkling white teeth could be exposed. "But I really am a nice guy who enjoys long walks on the beach and the works of Dr. Seuss … and fucking. That's always fun," he reassured with a cartoonish wink. The comment made M'Gann blush a bit, and caused Roy to throw himself into another fit of laughter. The other boys seemed displeased, and Artemis only smirked.

"So you're threatening us? Like that would last very long. Do you know what I could do to you?" asked Superboy.

"I dunno. What?" asked the unknown boy, changing his voice to sound very high-pitched and sarcastically interested.

Superboy seemed taken back, but nevertheless, remained on point. "I could squash you like a bug,"

"But you won't, or I'll report it back to the league," interject Red Arrow. The two boys started down each other for a bit before Superboy stepped back. Superboy didn't like taking orders from anybody, and could enforce his ways upon anyone who tried to. However, dealing with the league was a whole other issue. An issue that Superboy just didn't want to deal with. "I don't want to threaten you, I just want to warn you. This guy is a loose cannon. He's been tested and … let's just say … some screws are loose," admitted Roy as he delicately tried to choose the right words to string together.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Wally.

The boy crossed his arms together tightly and put his nose up in the air. "None of your fucking beeswax,"

"Okay. Dude. Chill," said Wally, raising his arms defensively.

"Can we just get back to the topic of 'why the hell you're here'?" asked Superboy. His eyes seemed plastered to the other end of the room, almost not wanting to admit that an older guy embarrassed him.

"Good question," said the, so far, unnamed boy. "Roy-boy, do you want to take this one?" he asked his friend. Roy nodded and summoned a few holographic screens to appear before the Young Justice team.

"Well, I think we should start off by introducing our guest of honor. Everyone, meet Apollo Dunk," said Roy he nudged the boy next to him.

"Chào," said Apollo with a slight wave. The group exchanged puzzled glances. None of them knew what he was saying let alone what language he was speaking. However, one of the teammates did:

"He's saying hello in Vietnamese," explained Artemis, her eyes staying glued to Apollo.

Apollo smiled at her. His smile was one that was slightly mischievous, only making him look more attractive to Artemis. "Ah! I native tongue I see. And in such a pretty mouth," Artemis did blush a bit, but was able to hide it very well as she maintained face. "What's your name, girly?" he asked.

Artemis smiled some before responding. "Artemis,"

Apollo's smiled only grew more devilish to the sound of her name. "Lovely," he complemented.

While the two gaped suggestively at the other, Wally's body almost seemed as if it was vibrating with anger. He didn't know what pissed him off more; that Artemis was throwing herself at a total stranger, or that the stranger she was throwing herself at with a total maniac! Either way, Wally couldn't contemplate what she saw in him, or why he was getting so agitated about the whole thing. By now, Wally had convinced himself that he hated her, and thought nothing more on the matter. Suddenly, his body took over control "And I'm Wally!" he said unnecessarily loudly, jumping in between the two, breaking their flirtatious stare. "Nice to meet you," he said extending his hand.

Apollo smiled at him and took his hand in for a handshake, after a while, Apollo glanced at their enlaced fingers and asked. "Why are you squeezing so hard? Oh! Are we playing that game where you have to squeeze the other person's hand really hard? Okay!" Within seconds, Wally fell to his knees in pain from Apollo's overly firm handshake. Obviously, Wally had no intention of playing a 'hand squeezing game' with this guy. Artemis had to giggle at the sight, and, as most good friends do, Robin rushed to Wally side and helped him up. "Does that mean I won?" asked Apollo to Roy with great curiosity. Roy didn't answer, instead he was too busy stifling back yet another set of laughs. Wally began to extend and bend his fingers in order to get the feeling back in them after being nearly crushed off – not taking his angry glare off Apollo.

"Shall we return to the mission now?" asked Kaldur, trying to re-establish some focus to the assignment.

"Right," said Roy, finally able to let himself calm down. "Anyway, this is Apollo's brother: Flint Yuan," On the screen appeared a tall figure. He looked older than Apollo, but shared many similar features. The only obvious difference was the hair. Flit's was an electric black as apposed to a dirty blonde like Apollo's. He was dressed in a traditional, red Vietnamese outfit and wore an elegant, black rabbit mask over his face. "He is often known as 'March Hare', and has been assassinating political figures around the world along with his father; Robert Dunk – known as 'Gamesexpert'," Another image appeared on screen of a much older looking man wearing a dark orange shirt and pants and white body armor over top of it. His face was completely covered with a white mask, but the hair that could be seen on his head matched that of Apollo's.

"So both your dad and your older brother are on the wrong side?" scoffed Wally. "That must be a fun dinner time discussion," he said sarcastically. Artemis let her eyes dropped to her feet.

Apollo just shrugged. "Hey, if someone picked on me at school, I'd know who to go to, am I right?" he winked at Wally. Wally shut his mouth and looked away.

"Apollo followed Flint to America, and with my help, we've tracked him down. He's hiding out somewhere in Washington at the moment, and he's doing a good job of keeping it a secret. But we know he's planning something big, and we need your help with it,"

"Why do you need our help?" asked Aqualad with confusion.

Roy looked away in shame. He never liked having to ask for help. Especially from these little sidekicks. However, he would always man-up and just ask if he needed it. "I didn't want _your _help. I wanted the help of the _real_ hero's. But you are all that I get,"

Artemis barred her teeth at him. She felt that she was just as good, if not better than him as an archer. "Well, we're what you got, so enough with the bitch-fest and get back to the point," she sneered.

"Feisty little one aren't you?" asked Apollo as he cocked his eyebrow.

Artemis smirked at him, and Roy gave him a dirty look. "I'm trying to debrief here," he said, gesturing to the team.

"Sorry. My libido got in the way," said Apollo defensively. Artemis found herself blushing again as Roy continued.

"Flint is a sneaky bastard. After watching him for sometime, we've noticed that he's been meeting up with certain 'contacts' that we believe might be helping him. So far, the two of us are out numbered – and that's were you come in"

"Then why doesn't the league find this to be a priority?" asked M'Gann.

"Cause they haven't met my brother," said Apollo darkly. "They've analyzed the 'contacts' he's been meeting with, and have conclude that they're harmless. But I know my brother better, and I say he's building a small army for something,"

"The most we know about his contacts are that they have some connection with the League of Shadows. Clearly, Flint is planning another assassination,"

"What about you're dad? Shouldn't we worry about him as well?" asked Superboy.

"No, no," chuckled Apollo. "I killed that mother fucker months ago,"

A silence fell upon the young team. Never could they even imagine just killing off their parents, even if they were evil (which in Artemis's case, was true). It was a weird thought to just murder the one they loved, and shuttered at the consequences that they would have to face. "But … he's your father. You can't just kill you're father," stammered Robin.

"Well … I did … cause he was a shit-faced looser … and I'm awesome … so I can only see this as a win/win situation for me … yeah me!" said Apollo, thrusting his fist into the air in celebration. The group shifted awkwardly for a moment before Roy brought them all back to their senses.

"If the Shadows are involved then something's going down. And soon,"

"Wait a sec; so the Shadows are involved and the league doesn't care?" questioned Robin. Robin knew Batman well enough that if the Shadows had any connection, Batman would be all over it. And they is no way that Batman wouldn't have known, because he's Batman, and Batman knows everything.

At that, Roy and Apollo exchanged a sideways glance. "To tell you the truth, Batman doesn't know the Shadows are involved. I just told him that Flint was gathering contacts," admitted Roy.

Robin let out a sarcastic laugh. "Anybody else want to call bullshit on that?" cried Robin. "Batman would know even if you didn't tell him! He watches the Shadows more closely than anyone here! "

"Oh yeah? Then where was he when they tried to kill Lex Luthor?" challenged Roy.

Robin had nothing to say to that. He just kept his mouth shut and clenched his jaw tightly. That's when Apollo stepped forward and placed a hand on Robin shoulder. "You have to stop holding Batman in such a high regard. He's human. He's going to make mistakes. He knows a lot, but he doesn't know everything," Robin rotated his shoulder in order to knock Apollo's hand off of it. He didn't want to admit it, but Batman did make a few mistakes, and this must have been one of them.

"Well if you tell them that the shadows are in on it, then I'm sure the _real_ hero's could help you out," growled Artemis.

Roy just frowned. "This is a very delicate operation," he said seriously. "We need certain events to happen before we stop it completely. If the league new about the Shadows, they would put an end to it without listening to reason," he explained thoroughly.

"What is it that makes this mission so delicate?" asked M'Gann with genuine interest.

"I'll tell you when I get there," said Roy, starting to get _really_ pissed off. "Right now, just let me explain it, then I'll tell you," The younger teens nodded with understanding before Roy continued. "Now then; Flint hasn't been meeting with any named contacts, but each of them are experienced in the martial arts and are full of knowledge on science and computers," On the screen appeared a picture of three boys. They were all identical and looked the age of collage students. "We'll call them 'Flit's Triplets' until we find out their names,"

"I been watching them ever since Flint started meeting with them, and here's what I got," said Apollo. "Tomorrow, the President will be meeting with a German scientist named Dr. Töten at the White House. Dr. Töten's grandfather, however, was a Nazi in World War 2, and raised Töten since he was born. Töten has been convicted of hate crimes and assisted murders. However, he had come up with a drug to aid HIV that is cheap enough to send around to Africa. The problem is, the drug has gone without testing and could possibly kill millions of African civilians,"

"Why did it go without testing?" asked M'Gann.

Roy rubbed the tips of his fingertips together in order to symbolize rubbing money. Then, he continued where Apollo left off. "A shipment of the drug is being flown over and is set to land right when the President shakes hands with Dr. Töten. Once it lands, the President will use the drug on a volunteer patient during a press conference,"

"Now, this is where it gets tricky: Dr. Töten has sworn to the US that if anyone is to interfere – such as the Justice League – he will destroy the drug as well as himself, and the secret of curing the sickness might be lost forever," said Roy. "He doesn't want either him or the drug to be confiscated or touched by anyone except for him and the President,"

"Why?" asked Wally skeptically.

"We don't know. It could be that it actually is poisonous," suggested Roy. "And as you can see, the doctor is one proud mother fucker. If we doubt him for a second, he'll go ballistic. He has set the medication to be completely resistant to any powers of the Justice League. And if the medication detects that the Justice league is near, or that it is subject to any kind of threat, it will dissolve and Dr. Töten will kill himself on the spot. America would have no one to blame but the Justice League. Yet the drug still _needs_ to be confiscated and tested else where, and the President can't be in on it or ties with Germany will be lost. Now, we could just wait for the drug to get here, and wait for Dr. Töten to deactivated whatever it was that could make the medication dissolve, but the Shadows are set to kill him the second he arrives at the White House. If they do, the medication will dissolve as they had not been set off,"

"I'm still confused why you didn't just tell the league that the Shadows were involved," stressed Robin.

"The Shadows are good at making themselves disappear … get it?" joked Apollo. Roy frowned at him and nudged him to continue. "They will only be visible that night (if they plan to strike at all),"

"And knowing the League, they would try and stop the White House conference from happening, but if Dr. Töten here's that the Justice League are involved with anything, he will refuse to bring the drug over at all. The President can't cover it up, because the German ambassador will tell Dr. Töten either way. We can't imprison the ambassador, because then Germany would take it offensively. Even if we tried to explain it to them, Dr. Töten would still refuse to share the drug," added Roy.

"I hoped that the League could confiscate the drug while we deal with Flint, but Batman would figure it out, get involved and ruin the operation. So we didn't tell them about the shadows," said Apollo.

"Hold on. Batman would defiantly be in on this if the drug might be poisonous," pointed out Robin.

"Batman doesn't believe that Dr. Töten would poison anyone. It's too risky to just kill off a volunteer at a press conference. Even though Dr. Töten could just use a normal vaccination on the volunteer then send the bad ones off to Africa, Batman still thinks' he's clean. But if the Shadows are involved, then obviously something is wrong,"

"How did you convince him to let you ask for our help?" asked Kaldur.

"I wouldn't take no for an answer. If said I could ask you, but that it would be up to you if you wanted to help or not," said Roy, trying in a way to mock the Dark Knight. "So, the answer is up to you,"

Apollo began humming the _Jeopardy_ theme song as the team glanced around at each other. Everything seemed legitimate, but there was a lot of question about this new character. Was _he_ legitimate? Or was this all just a big joke? But alas, people's lives could possibly be at risk, and that was something the team couldn't question.

"What happens if we take the drug, test it, and it turns out to be fine?" asked Kaldur.

Apollo shrugged. "Then we owe the doc a BIG apology. One that he'd probably never accept. Then the world can blame us for preventing a cure to HIV!" cheered Apollo. Kaldur bit his lip and darted his eyes over to Robin. Robin looked to the older boys, then to the floor, then back to Kaldur. This operation could put them in a lot international in trouble, but the Shadows were involved and they were a huge priority. Regretting his decision a second later, Robin nodded. Apollo smiled and jumped into the air. "Eat shit, Flint! You're going down!" he cried.

"What is the plan you have for the mission?" asked Kaldur.

"Pretty simple," said Roy as the holographic screen showed a diagram of the White House. "We're splitting ourselves up into three teams. Team 'A' will be M'Gann, Robin, and Superboy. Team 'B' will be Kaldur and myself. And Team 'C' will be Apollo, Artemis, and Wally-"

"Ugh! I have to be on a team with her?" complained Wally. Artemis opened her mouth to insult him back, but Apollo cut in.

"I don't see what you're complaining, kiddo," he said suggestively. Artemis turned her head in his direction, and smiled a smile just as suggestive as the one that was plastered on his face. Wally was about to say something until Roy continued with his debrief.

"Team 'A' will be the ones getting a hold of the drug. Robin, once the plane lands, wait till you know the medication has been deactivated. Before it is administered to the volunteer, create a distraction," Robin nodded affirmatively. "M'Gann, you will use your camouflage to take the needle that the President will use on the volunteer," M'Gann nodded as well. "Superboy, it will be up to you to keep the helicopter from leaving. Think you can keep it on the ground?"

Superboy, feeling insulted, growled. "I can burry it if you'd like," he sneered.

Roy furrowed his brow, but continued. "Then, Robin will run to the helicopter in time to hack the system and see if there are any other booby traps-"

"HA! You said 'booby'," snickered Apollo.

"This is where Team 'B' comes in. Kaldur. You and I will be on the roof as surveillance. Once we find them, we will tell Team 'C' where the Shadows are hiding. Once we've spotted them, Team 'C' will move in and take them down. From there, you and I will split up. One of us will assist Team 'C' if needed while the other helps Team 'A'," Aqualad nodded with understanding. "As for Team 'C', you will wait in the crowd until further instruction. Once you have location of the Shadows, move in," Artemis and Wally nodded after being instructed. "Other then that, we have a day to get ready. Pack all weapons you need and be ready to head over to Washington in…" Roy checked his watch. "Exactly 30 hours from now. Any questions?" The team shook their heads and Roy clapped his hands together. "Whelp. I'm out. See you guys in _exactly_ 30 hours," Roy then turned on his heels and headed for the zeta tubes.

"Wait!" called Wally, causing Roy to stop dead in his tracks. "Aren't you taking him with you?" he asked, pointing at Apollo.

Roy looked over to Apollo and chuckled. "Nope. Have you met this guy? He's crazy! He's your problem now!" The team exchanged worried expressions. "Either way, he wants to train you guys a little bit for when you face Flint. Have fun!" he taunted as a white light zapped him away.

Following Roy's absence was silence. "So…" started Apollo. "Where's the crapper?" he asked overly enthusiastically.

"Down the hall and to your left side," said Kaldur.

Apollo smiled at him, and started to whistle as he proudly strutted to the toilets. "Oh. There's something else I should add," he said, cocking his head around ever so slightly in their direction. "Leave Flint to me. I want to kill him with my own two hands," he said darkly. But then. with a smile, her said "Chào" once more and continued his journey, whistling again - just loud enough for the tune to vibrate off the walls and create an echo.

"I don't like him," growled Wally when he was out of sight.

"Speak for yourself," mumbled Artemis with a sly smile. Wally frowned at her.

"It does not matter if we like him or not," said Kaldur. "What matters now is that we assist him on this mission,"

"And what happens if it's a total mess?" asked Superboy.

Kaldur sighed. "I do not know the answer. All I know is that we are heroes. And heroes never deny the opportunity to save someone's life,"

Everybody was silenced at that as they each murmured in agreement to each other. Apollo may be mentally insane, but at least he was honest … hopefully.

* * *

><p><strong>First chapter done! I'm sorry for the long length, but I didn't know where to break it.<strong>

**I hope you guys liked the little bet at the beginning. I wanted to show the more 'teenager' side of them, and give a bet where Artemis won. I don't know why, but every fanfic I read where there's a bet between Artemis and Wally, Wally wins. Let Artemis win a few once and a while, eh? ;).**

**As for the character of Apollo, I created him because I feel as though most OC's in fanfics are girls and not so much boys. Artemis and M'Gann deserve some eye candy to, don't they? ;). Anyway, I tried to make his character a little like Deadpool. Don't know why, just did. Deadpool is awesome and there really isn't anyone in the DC universe like him. So there. **

**I hope everyone liked it... liked it enough for a REVIEW that is! Positive or negative, I accept all!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, there's a scene in this chapter that is somewhat... controversial. So after you read it, PLEASE read my note at the end of the chapter before you go to the reviews (that is, if you review). Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"WHAT THE HELL?"<p>

Wally ran as fast as he could when he heard Artemis's cries. Her voice leading him straight to the infirmary. When he finally located the source of the sound, his jaw dropped at the sight of what he saw in front of him. Sitting on one of the beds was Robin, a river of scarlet blood was squirting out of his nose and dripping onto his green sweatshirt. Standing next to him was Apollo, carefully dressing a strip of gauze with ointment, and strategically placing it on Robin's nose. "What happened?" shirked Wally as he ran to Robin's side.

Apollo shrugged as he secured the gauze on Robin's nose with some medical tape. "He said something mean so I punched him in the face," he answered absentmindedly.

Artemis gasped, but Wally reacted a little differently. For at this moment, Wally had never hated someone so much in his life (and for him, that was saying a lot since he considered that person to be Artemis not more then five seconds ago). He was about to charge at Apollo when suddenly, Robin's arm shot out and blocked him. "Dude, it's okay,"

Wally's expression of anger quickly molded into one of confusions. "What?" he murmured.

Robin sighed with shame "It was my fault," he said, letting his head hang low.

"But we've learned our lesson now, right?" asked Apollo. Robin nodded eagerly. "You're a great kid, just got be more open to people. Remember, don't _be_ Batman, be _better_ than Batman," winked Apollo.

"Thanks Apollo," smiled Robin as he whipped the last little bit of blood away from his nose.

"Well thank you for telling me your secret identity," said Apollo with a wink.

Now it was Artemis's turn to gasp. "You told him your secret identity?"

"Yep!" said Robin proudly. When Wally's eyes went wide, Robin began to laugh. "It's an inside joke guys," he explained. "You wouldn't understand," he said coolly as he hopped from the bed and strutted towards the door.

"Hey Robin!" called Apollo. Robin turned. Apollo then slammed his fist against his chest, and bowed his head forward. Robin chuckled, then repeated the same action before exiting the room. Wally and Artemis looked at each other – obviously that was a handshake of some sort.

"I thought that was really sweet – you know – how you fixed up Robin and all," complemented Artemis, batting her eyelashes wildly at Apollo. Wally grinded his teeth together.

"What did he even say to you?" asked Wally, demanding to know the reason why his best friends face had been pouring blood just a few seconds ago.

"I think he called me ugly or something… I'm not sure" said Apollo as he raked his brain trying to find the answer.

"So you just punch him in the face?" asked and annoyed Wally. "Wow, talk about over-reacting. Why are you such a-"

WHAM!

Wally tripped backwards a bit after Apollo had landed a punch right in the middle of Wally's face. In-between Wally's cries of pain (and before he could say anything) Apollo shrugged and said "First rule about Apollo: Never piss off Apollo,"

Artemis laughed a bit. Wally wasn't that hurt, so she didn't feel that bad. Besides, there was no blood, so that (for her) was the green light to laugh a little.

"Good golly I'm starving. Where can a guy get a pudding cup around here?" asked Apollo.

Artemis gently bit her lip and raised her pointer finger, beckoning him over in a very suggestive way. "Come with us, we'll take you to the kitchen," she purred. Wally watched her movements with amazement. Only Artemis could take such a plain sentence and make it sound so sexy. Not that he found it sexy of course. He found it gross. Just as gross as the look Apollo gave her as he followed her out of the infirmary. Before he followed them out, Wally grabbed for an instant ice pack and placed it on his nose. It wasn't bleeding, just hurting like a bitch.

After a light jog, he caught up to them in the hall, making sure that we walked in front with Artemis and that Apollo was shoved to the back of the group. "_Take that asshole_," said Wally to himself.

_Apollo's Journal – February 14th__, 2012_

_My personal being has once again moved, and is located in some sort of hollowed out mountain. I find myself surrounded by a group 8-10 year old kids, referring to themselves as the 'Young Justice' team. Should make special note to review child labor and abuse laws. They've agreed to help me in my quest to kill the traitor I am so biologically required to call 'brother'. Hopefully they well prove of some usefulness to me and hopefully, we will not fail. Flint's moves are unpredictable and often improvised – only I seem to be able to detect a pattern. In no more than a day will our fate be decided – either he will be dead, or I will, condemning the world to fear his constant cycle of douche bag-ery. If we both survive, than my quest to destroy him will only be prolonged. Should make special note to search on Internet for 'sexy singles in the area' if I am required to stay here. But all of that is for later. At the moment my feet are currently following a few of these 'Young Justice' members to their cooking facility where I will prepare myself a small snack. I can only pray that they have pudding cups…_

Wally and Artemis stopped dead in their tracks to the kitchen and glanced back at Apollo who was following them only a few feet behind. "Um… you know we can hear you, right?" asked Artemis.

_The yellow hair'd one calls herself Artemis. Quite attractive for someone at her age if I do say so myself. Should make special note to check up on the age of consent here._

Artemis blushed a tiny bit, but Wally became furious. "Now hold on just one second!"

_The red-headed one seems agitated, but doesn't propose as much of a threat or show any signs of being tough competition._

"Hey!" yelled Wally. Artemis had to hold herself up against a wall for support as her laughter was practically knocking her over.

_Maybe it's his red-hair. Aren't ginger kids allergic to the sun? Should make special note to research ginger kids later. _

Artemis was in tears as Wally's face grew redder and redder with anger. "Can we just move this along?" he growled.

_Living with these kids should be entertaining. Alas I can only hope that I prepare them well enough. For if my plan fails them, they might be face to face with death himself – my brother. Reports will be made later. Hugs and Kiss – Apollo._

"Right! Where were we?" said Apollo, snapping out of his trance. Artemis calmed her self down a bit before signaling to the others to follow her. Apollo eagerly obliged, but was held back by Wally.

"Listen, dude. I don't know who you are, or what you're doing. But I can tell you right now that I don't like it. I don't trust you, and usually, when I don't trust someone, they end up getting hurt," he threatened through a clenched jaw.

Apollo smiled, the patted him on the head. "Alright small fry. I'll stay away from your girlfriend-"

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" whispered Wally loudly.

Apollo blinked, and then scratched his head. "Oh… well… I'm sorry I don't understand why you're trying threaten me then,"

Wally just rolled his eyes. On the inside, however, he didn't understand himself why he was getting so worked up over this. In his books; if Artemis wanted to flirt with a creep, then she could flirt with a creep. But it was just _this_ creep that Wally had a problem with. Wally didn't like the look of him, or that stupid smile that was formed on his face every time he looked at Artemis. But, once again, in Wally's mind it wasn't his attraction to Artemis that was pissing him off, it was just his face. "Look. I'll help you. But don't piss me off. Got it?"

Apollo whined. "Can't make any promises there, bud,"

"Are you guys coming?" called Artemis from down the hall.

"After you, good sir," said Apollo bowing his head a little, indicated that Wally take the lead. Wally grunted at him one more time before stomping off down the hall.

_Apollo's Journal (continued)._

_Ginger kid is starting to get on my nerves, but he can easily be taken care of…_

"What was that?" asked Wally.

Apollo looked around. "What was what?"

"You just said 'but he can easily be taken care of…'. What the hell does that mean?"

Apollo blinked. "I dunno," he said honestly. And he did honestly not know, but more on that later...

When the three arrived in the kitchen, Robin, M'Gann, Superboy, and Aqualad soon joined them – all looking for something to eat.

"What's in the fridge?" asked Robin to Wally, who was already scavenging through it.

"Are you kidding me? We're empty!" exclaimed Wally as he frantically searched through the icebox. Everyone looked over to him with worry stricken faces.

"What?" gasped M'Gann.

"And the pantry is empty too!" cried Artemis as she scanned the empty cupboard.

"How is that possible?" asked Superboy. "We can't be out of food," he added, frowning.

"When was the last time one of us brought food here?" asked Aqualad – being the only one to think rationally.

Everyone thought on it, but it was only M'Gann who remembered. "Hello M'Gann! We finished all the food yesterday! Wally said he was going to get some more by today…" he voice trailed off as she glanced over at Wally. Everyone else also began to glare at Wally, each of them angry and very hungry. Wally rubbed the back of his neck and nervously giggled.

"Way to go, Kid Idiot! You forgot to get us food!" spat Artemis.

Apollo jumped forward and firmly grabbed Wally by the shoulders. "So, no pudding cups?" he cried, his face frozen with fear. When Wally shook his head, Apollo feel to his knees and dramatically cried "NOOOO!"

"Seriously Wally?" asked Robin.

"Look, I'll just run out now and get some-… what are you doing?" asked Wally to Apollo, who had somehow snuck over to the kitchen table without anyone noticing. When the whole group looked over, they saw Apollo, sitting at the table with what appeared to be a cigarette in his hands. However, the cigarette was all white and kind of bulky.

"Passing the time," shrugged Apollo as he pulled out a lighter from his pocket. Artemis walked over to him cautiously and took the cigarette from his hands. Holding it up to her nose, she gave it a whiff, the dropped in back down to the table.

"It's weed!" she shrieked.

"Good nose," winked Apollo.

Wally huffed. "And I'm the idiot? You can't just bring weed in here!" he yelled.

Apollo cocked his eyebrow "Why not?" he asked.

"Well first of all, it's illegal!" stated Robin, confiscating the cigarette. "And we are the ones who enforce the law. Second of all, if the Justice League found out that it was even in here, let alone you smoked it-!"

"I was going to share," said Apollo innocently.

Aqualad crossed his arms over his chest and eyed Apollo. "That does not change the fact that you brought an illegal substance here. As hero's, it would be are duty to –"

"You know, I see your lips moving, but all I hear is 'blah, blah, blah,'," mocked Apollo. Aqualad frowned at him. "Look, I get it. You guys are all; 'Wee look at me! I'm under aged and work for the law! Drugs are bad!'," he mocked further in a high-pitched voice. "But think about it this way: studies show that if pot was legalized, crime rates would shoot down. Besides, you haven't even tried it," he pointed out.

The group shifted around nervously as Apollo marched over to Robin and ripped the cigarette away from his hands and began to light it. Without warning, he placed it delicately between his lips and took in a strong inhale of the substance. The group watched in awe as Apollo blew out a big puff of smoke and smiled coolly at them. Slowly extending his hand out to them, he said "You only live once, right?"

The group exchanged looks and glances. All of them knew that nothing good could come out of it. But at the same time, they were curious. Curious as to what it was, what it did. They hungered to solve their curiosity now more than ever. And, against their better judgment, all nodded to his offer.

Within minutes they were all reduced to sloth like creatures. Each completely high and handling it their own way.

Robin sat on the very edge of the kitchen counter. Hugging his knees tight into his chest, he slowly rocked his body back and forth, thinking about something. Something important.

Superboy and Artemis lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Every so often, one of them would point up at the blue tiled roof and say something like; "That one looks like a bunny,"

Aqualad (who thought it best to not inhale the smoke directly seeing as who he depend on moisture to survive) sat at the table perfectly still, not moving, and looking straight ahead to the other end of the room.

M'Gann stood beside him, and ran her finger up and down the gills on his neck, completely bewildered and entertained by their unique nature. Every so often, she would chuckle, and return to feelings his neck.

Kid Flash sat crossed-legged on the floor, snapping his fingers to music that wasn't play and every so often laughing at nothing except for himself.

Apollo was the only one who seemed remotely normal at this point. He just stood in the middle of the kitchen and smiled at the youngsters.

"I got it!" exclaimed Robin. Everyone looked over to him. "The reason why Rice Krispies snap, crackle, and pop is because the government put a chemical in it that makes us here weird things! Don't you see? They want to mess with our minds!" he exclaimed, hopping up and down on the couch with excitement.

"Oh my god. You're right!" gaped Kid Flash. "It all makes sense now!" he cheered as the two high-fived – and missed by a mile. Apollo just snickered at them. He knew the effects would wear off soon, but for the time being, he found this quite hilarious.

"This feels... gah," mumbled Artemis under her breath.

"Yeah," said M'Gann, still focused on Aqualad's gills.

"But... why?" asked Robin. Apollo ignored how completely out of context his question was and just patted him on the back.

"It will go away soon my friend. Just enjoy it,"

*Few Hours Later...*

The effects did eventually wear off, and everybody felt it would be a good time to start preparing for the next day. After grabbing whatever equipment they needed, they all went to the common room where they found Apollo sitting on the couch and fiddling with a small black box.

"You never told us," started Robin as he examined the unidentified machine in Apollo's hand. "What's your… specialty?" he asked.

Apollo snickered. "Why tell you, when I can just show you?"

Suddenly, he disappeared.

The younger teens started to frantically look about the room for him.

Superboy scratched his head "What the-"

"BANG!"

The sudden loud sound made the whole group jump. Standing behind them was Apollo. However, he wasn't wearing the casual outfit he had on just a few moment ago. Instead, he wore a charcoal grey, spandex body suit with black stitching outlining his muscles. The mask on his face was simple and black, and the little black box was still firmly held in his hand.

"Whoa!" said Robin.

"You've got powers?" asked Wally.

Apollo smiled and shook his head. "Nah. I built this suit. It helps me camouflage into my soundings and adapt to my environment. Like if you stick me under water, and I ain't drowning," he confessed proudly.

"And you made that yourself?" asked Artemis in awe. Apollo nodded and sauntered back over to the couch. Artemis watched him and placed her hands on her hips as she muttered "You must be good with you hands-"

"What does the black box do?" called Wally, trying to be loud as to interrupt the moment that Artemis may have had with Apollo.

Apollo whipped his head around with a big booming grin on his face. "I'm glad you asked me that," he complimented. Apollo placed the box in his right hand and used his left one to grab at a corner of the box. Within seconds the black box was stretched and molded into an M16 gun.

"Oh my God!" muttered Wally as his eyes glued themselves at the weapon. "How…?"

"Built it, but that's not the best part," said Apollo with a sly grin on his face. "I can mold it into any gun I want. Bazooka, desert eagle, AK47, water gun-"

"Water gun?" asked M'Gann. She knew what a water gun was, but couldn't for the life of her understand why he would use that in battle.

"Yeah. For when I go to birthday parties," he explained, raising an eyebrow at her as if she was crazy.

"So, camouflage, ammo, what's it all about?" asked Artemis.

Apollo smiled at her. "I lived with an old General who fought during the Vietnam War for a couple of years. He taught me Guerrilla warfare – how to camouflage into your surroundings, how to live off the land, work with nothing, use badass guns, the usual,"

Artemis smiled back at him, their eyes were completely locked on each other, as if they were communicating telepathically.

Wally didn't like it. To be more specific, he hated that look she was giving him. He still couldn't figure out why, but something about the way their eyes were glued on the others, it made him angry. "Oh yeah, a water gun is badass. I'm sure you strike fear into the hearts of many people with that thing," scoffed Wally.

Artemis reached over and smacked him upside the head. "What the hell's your problem?" she whispered angrily.

Wally's attention began to focused on her at the sound of her voice. "What the hell's _your_ problem?" he retaliated.

She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue judgingly. "You're despicable," she said.

"Enough," roared Aqualad. Everyone silenced to the sound of his voice, however, Artemis and Wally kept glaring at each other. "You two will be partnered up for a very important mission tomorrow. It would be wise to get along before hand," he threatened.

"Whatever," said Wally. "It's late, I'm going to bed," he added storming off.

"Good idea," said Aqualad darkly.

Artemis frowned at Wally as he left the room. As she watched his fiery red hair disappear out of sight, she couldn't help but wonder why he was so annoyed by Apollo's presence. Rolling her eyes again, she followed suit and headed to her own bedroom. She needed to clear her head before the mission, and sleep was the best way to do it.

* * *

><p>"<em>ARTEMIS!" shrieked M'Gann as the whole team watched their best archer and closest friend get vaporized by an unknown alien life form. To Wally, the moment passed by so quickly, but in his head, the image kept replaying over and over, only getting slower with every repeat – taunting him – telling him that he did have enough time to run over there and save her from the blast. But now, it was too late.<em>

"_ARTEMIS!" he couldn't control himself. Her name shot out from his lips as he called for her. He couldn't believe it, he wouldn't believe it. But it was real, and there was nothing he could do. _

_Artemis was gone._

"_Get inside! All of you!" commanded Aqualad. But Wally didn't move. Instead, he watched, frozen with anger, rage, and sorrow as Aqualad destroyed the ship that had killed Artemis._

_Wally clenched his fists tight. "They're dead. Ever last one of them, if it's the last thing I do!" _

_And he meant it. He meant it so damn much. At that moment he felt as though he could have ripped the alien in half and smash it to bits. He felt as though he could scream so loud that the world would shake. But he reframed. Instead, he turned and headed toward the Bioship. He was going to kill all of the aliens, no matter what._

"_Leaving so soon?" asked a voice. _

_The team, or what was left of it, turned around. Standing behind them was one of the aliens. But it wasn't an alien… It was Apollo._

_He looked different. His suit was red to match the other alien ships, and his arms had turned into the canons that were found on top of the spacecrafts. But none of that scared Wally. Wait scared Wally was the mischievous smile that had spread across his face. The smile in question was not one that Wally had seen before – it was much eviler then the ones Apollo had shot Artemis, and viler then the ones given to the rest of the team. This smile was criminal._

_Aqualad glanced at the others before stepping forward. "Apollo, what's going on?" he asked innocently._

_Apollo smirked and said "You're about to find out,"_

_All of a sudden, Apollo lifted one of his 'arms' up and aimed it for Aqualad. Before anyone could react, let alone register what was happening, Apollo shot a yellow beam at Aqualad, vaporizing him almost immediately. "AQUALAD!" yelled M'Gann._

"_You killed him!" screamed Robin._

_Apollo sneered. Then, aiming his 'arm' at Robin, he shot another blast of yellow light, consuming the boy wonder into oblivion. "No shit, Sherlock," he muttered._

_ "ROBIN!" M'Gann screamed. Her eyes were full of tears, and her legs collapsed under her, causing her to fall to the ground._

_ "Oh, my, God! Shut up!" complained Apollo as he shot another yellow blast at M'Gann._

_ Superboy screamed in rage "I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared, but it was too late. For moments later, Superboy was vaporized as well._

_ Wally couldn't believe it. In mere seconds his whole team was gone. Everyone. Even M'Gann didn't stand a chance against this mad man. When Apollo faced Wally, Wally wanted to charge at him. He wanted to kill him in the most painful way possible. Apollo had just taken everything from him, especially Artemis. Yet when Wally tried to lift his legs, he found they were stuck. Looking down he noticed that his boots had been sucked into the snow beneath him, and were being prevented from taking off in a full sprint. Wally looked to Apollo, confusion and sadness filled his eyes. _

_ "You were going to betray us all along,"_

_ Apollo nodded as he slowly approached Wally. Wally growled and swung his arms around, but it was of no use. "They trusted you, and you killed them!"_

_ Apollo chuckled. "That's what you get for letting me in," he winked. Wally was about to roar, but was silenced as Apollo lifted his laser slowly and ominously. _

_ "Today, Wally West, your friends have died. You did nothing to save them and now, they are mine. And today, Wally West, you will die,"_

_ A few tears fell from Wally's face as he looked into the barrel of the canon. "You bastard,"_

_ Apollo smiled. "See you in hell, kid,"_

_ When there was nothing else for Wally to do, he closed his eyes and waited for the blow. When his eyes were shut, he saw an image of Artemis, giving him a wink as he prepared to face his death._

_ "BANG!"_

Wally woke up rapidly and jolted up right from his bed, almost letting out a terrified scream. His dream had scared him shitless. And not so much the dream, more like the way that Apollo stood over his bed, looking down upon him, holding his hands together to look like a gun. "What – what are you doing here?" asked Wally, frantically whipping his eyes.

Apollo shrugged. "I heard noises in her, and thought I'd have a little fun," then, another smile spread on Apollo's face. However, this one wasn't evil, just mischievous. "I talked to you in your dream,"

Wally looked at him strangely. "What? How?"

"It's simple. I just stood over your bed and responded to what you said. Something about me killing people, trust and stuff, wanting to hook up with Artemis-"

"I never said that!" snapped Wally. True, he was a little embarrassed because this was the first time anyone had told him that he talked in his sleep. Hopefully, he never said anything embarrassing. But the last thing he needed right now was for anyone to say he liked Artemis. Because he didn't.

"Calm yourself bro," instructed Apollo, patting Wally on the shoulder.

Wally sneered. "What are you doing here?" he asked, rubbing his eyes again.

Apollo used his head to gesture toward the door to Wally's room. "I was walking by when I heard you mumbling. You said may name so I responded,"

Wally squinted his eyes at him. "So, you said all of that stuff in my dream to me while I slept?" he asked.

"Yup," said Apollo proudly. "When you said 'They trusted you,' I filled in the blanks," Wally propped himself on the bed to sit more comfortably as Apollo spoke, only feeling more embarrassed that Apollo had heard his dream. "What's your problem man?" he asked.

Wally frowned. "I don't have a problem," he snapped. "Just a dream, okay?"

"Okay," said Apollo. "But if graduating from Harvard Collage with a degree in physiology taught me anything-"

"You went to Harvard?" asked Wally, sounding both impressed and jealous.

"It's that dreams magnify our internal conflicts. And since you just had a dream about me betraying you team-"

"How detailed was I when I was talking in me sleep?" mumbled Wally – more to himself.

"You probably don't find me trustworthy. But here, let's make a deal: You learn to trust me, and I won't tell the whole team that you cried like a little girl in your sleep,"

Wally opened his mouth to say something negative in retaliation. But then he stopped himself. Apollo's voice, to him, sounded genuine – like he was really trying to help. So instead, Wally nodded. "Thanks," he sniggered. Apollo left without another word, and Wally laid back down in his bed. He was still bothered by Apollo, but it was nice to know that Apollo was a pretty cool guy.

Now if only he'd stop flirting with Artemis…

Artemis…

Wally laid in bed with his eyes opened for a minute recalling on Artemis's 'death'. He couldn't help but remember how she had gone so heroically. Sacrificing herself for the team. But what was really on his mind was how he felt when he saw her go. He was so broken, so damaged. Not only did he hate the aliens for taking her, he hated the world for letting it happen. And what was worse, was that he hated himself for not reacting faster. By now, Wally was fully aware it was all a test, but if only he had more warning, he probably could have kept her alive for just a little longer. And now, for some reason, watching her flirt with Apollo made him so annoyed. Watching her look at Apollo like that burn inside of him, and for some reason, he couldn't explain why. "_I don't like Artemis_," he thought to himself. "_I just … don't like Apollo_,". But Wally knew that wasn't true. Apollo was an okay guy. "_I don't … we're like family. Yeah, that's it. I find it weird cause we're like family_," Wally also knew that the whole 'like a family' thing was a lie, but he couldn't think of anything else and wanted his head to change the subject. He needed some sleep, or tomorrow would just go horribly.

* * *

><p><strong>DON'T GO TO THE REVIEWS JUST YET! Let me explain myself first...<strong>

**By now, you've probably guessed that the scene I mentioned earlier was the drug scene. I was a little hesitant to add this scene for a few reasons, but mostly because after reading some of the other reviews, I got the sense that some people might be offended in some way. But let me tell you why I kept it.**

**Earlier this year, I watched an interview for the show with the creators. They said that their main message in the show was to combined the responsibility of being a hero with the challenges of being a teenager. I really took that to heart, and that's what caused me to watch the show let alone write this story. **

**I'm not saying doing drugs is good. And no, I've never done drugs and I probably never will. But doing drugs is something that teenagers do. Not all, some. These kids in Young Justice are no exception. They are young and learning things for themselves. I know that its inaccurate for _hero's_ to do drugs, but still. They aren't even 17 yet. In all of my YJ fanfics, I try to throw in a convo or scene where they are acting like normal teenagers for once just to stress how difficult it is to be a teenager. I may have gone a little overboard with the drugs, but I'm a writer; that's how I make my point.**

**I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the drug scene. If I did, I would like for you to not vent in the reviews. If you honestly didn't feel the scene worked, or you thought it was written poorly, then by all means, share. But, if you're just angry that I had them do drugs, then please don't write that in the reviews. I know I always say I'm open to criticism, but not this way. **

**With all of that being said, I do hope you review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I got a lot of mixed reviews on the last chapter, but that's good! What you guys tell me helps me to become a better writer :). Apollo seems to be getting a lot of hate - which I understand. But perhaps your opinion of him might change in this chapter... (cue dramatic music)**

**Just to clarify, Robin didn't give away his secret identity to Apollo. It was supposed to be an inside joke between them. But that's my fault for not specifying it.**

**Anyway, hope you like this next chapter!**

***Telepathic conversation in _italics_**

* * *

><p>"You ready yet, Kid Idiot?" bellowed Artemis from the Bioship. As usual, Wally was the last one to get on the Bioship for a mission. No one really knew what he did before hand. But whatever it was, it took too long.<p>

That's what they thought anyway. What Wally was really doing was sitting on his bed, thinking. Images from the night before replayed in his mind, and the wise words of Apollo echoed in his head. It wasn't good to be confused before a mission, and Wally knew better than to hold the team up. But it just didn't make sense. Why was he so devastated by Artemis's 'death'? Why did Apollo have such an effect on him? He could solve any science equation, by he couldn't for the life of him solve this.

While Wally sat in costume, and in thought, Robin popped his head into his room and groaned. "What the hell are you doing? Let's go!" he commanded.

Wally nodded and waited a bit till he felt like he was in solitude once more. Standing from his bed, he dragged his feet across the room and over to a mirror he had next to his doorway. Staring at his own reflection, he pulled his mask over his head. He was now Kid Flash, and Kid Flash wasn't afraid of anything. Not even his own emotions.

When he stepped into the Bioship, Artemis was the first to notice. "There you are!" she groaned. "Do you know how late we are?"

"I know, I know. Don't get your panties in a twist," sneered Wally as he marched over to his seat, trying his hardest not to make eye contact.

"Whatever. Can we just go?" growled Artemis, folding her arms over her chest and looking out the window.

M'Gann exchanged a sideways glance with Superboy. It wasn't like Wally and Artemis to be getting into an argument this early in the morning. But M'Gann shrugged and started the Bioship. Knowing the to of them, it would probably pass. "Yehaw!" cried Apollo as the Bioship zoomed at full speed through the air. The rest of the team was not so amused. Most of them were actually quite scared about the mission. Apollo was crazy, and packed a ton of ammo with him. If Flint was anything like him, then there would be trouble.

* * *

><p>"Ties between German and America, have always been strong-"<p>

The crowd listened intently as the President stood on the steps of the white house, delivering his speech. Kaldur and Roy were silently perched on the roof above him and M'Gann, Superboy, and Robin hid in the (currently invisible) Bioship. Hiding the bushes at the front gates were Apollo, Artemis, and Wally. All quietly waiting for instruction.

However, Dr. Töten wasn't expected for at least another half hour or so, and the teams had already been in there positions for the last 20 minutes. They were all alert, yet very bored.

Wally, at the moment, was the only exception to the rule. He had spent the last few minutes gazing at Artemis. She was crouched down on all fours right in front of him, peering through the leaves into the crowd. He felt like a pig, but he couldn't help it. Her behind was almost literally right in his face. And what a nice behind it was. Even if Wally hated her, he was at least allowed to look.

But since most girls have the sixth sense, Artemis felt his gaze on her. She had let it slip for the past few minutes, but in a bored state, she felt it was the right time to start having a little fun with it. "Like what you see?" she whispered over her shoulder.

Wally quickly looked away and thanked God that his mask was covering his extremely red face. "No," he grunted.

"Yes," said Apollo quickly. Wally frowned at him. Artemis laughed.

"I was only noticing that you pants are too low. Any lower and someone might see you underwear," said Wally, trying to cover up the real reason behind to his gazing. But even he found his lie unbelievable.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," said Apollo. Apollo actually hadn't stopped looking at Artemis's behind, and was making no effort to cover it up.

Artemis turned her head slowly. A grin on her face and her left eyebrow raised. "Who said I was wearing underwear?" she asked in a low voice.

Wally gaped.

"Schwing," murmured Apollo.

Wally began to blush again. Artemis was seriously not helping. He was trying to look indifferent, not desperate. But he couldn't help it. Her voice and her body were too, hypnotizing. However, that didn't mean he was going to give up. "Gross," he grumbled.

Apollo looked over at him. Once again, his face was covered in horror. "What's. wrong. with. you?" he asked in broken English.

"Guys!"

Both the boys snapped their heads forward to Artemis's command. Peering into the crowd, they noticed a few dark figures sneaking past the guards and making their way unnoticed to the back of the crowd. Three were dressed in black, but one stood out with his red outfit and black rabbit mask.

"Flint," snarled Apollo under his breath.

"_Kaldur, Flint has been spotted. Should we move in?_" asked Artemis.

"_Negative_," responded Roy. "_Wait for our signal_,"

"_I believe I asked Kaldur_," said Artemis with venom dripping off each word. Even though only Kaldur could see Roy's face, everyone could hear him glaring.

"_Stop it you two_," said Kaldur. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"_Anyone know when the helicopter is going to arrive?_" asked Superboy.

Suddenly, a loud sound could be heard that startled everyone in the crowd. The dark figures that now stood just in front of the bush where Apollo, Artemis, and Wally were hiding, all nodded at each other and reached into their pockets, producing small hand guns moments later. Obviously, they were going to kill somebody, and had to be stopped. "_Now, Team C!_" said Roy.

"With fucking pleasure," said Apollo as he emerged from the bushes. "HEY ASS WIPE!" he called. Flint and his goons turned around. While Flint still had his mask on, Apollo could tell that he was grinning. "Remember me?" asked Apollo.

Flint placed his gun back in his pocket, and signaled for his followers to do the same. "Apollo. Is that you? You look more – fucked up then the last time I saw you," said Flint. Wally and Artemis noticed right away that Flint's voice was much calmer and more sophisticated sounding than Apollo's. "Come to join the fun?" asked Flint as he gestured to the steps of the Whit House. "We were going to take out the helicopter. But I guess we'll have to take care of you three instead," he smiled.

"So you were after the doctor. The drug I presume?" clarified Apollo.

Flint smiled, than sarcastically started clapping his hands together. "Very good, Apollo. You figured it out,"

"And the Shadow's hired you, correct?"

"Nothing gets past you," winked Flint.

Apollo's eyes narrowed. "Whelp, that's all the evidence I need," he said darkly. "Shall we return to where we left off?" he asked striking a fighting pose.

Flint glared at him for a moment – but then ever so slowly began nodding his head. "You three. Take out the younger's. Leave my brother to me," commanded Flint to the three other men as he gestured to Wally and Artemis. Thus the fight began, and the plan with started.

* * *

><p>"The copter has been spotted," said Robin to Superboy and M'Gann. "M'Gann, prepare to confiscate the drug," M'Gann nodded and, after exiting the Bioship, turned invisible. "Superboy, wait for my signal," called Robin as the Bioship released him onto the ground. When Robin dropped from the Bioship, it was just as Dr. Töten was stepping off of his own helicopter. He was different than Robin expected. He was face friendly. The doctor smiled warmly to everyone as he shook hands with the President. His suit was brown and his turtleneck black. His hair was blonde and his eyes were a magnificent blue. The doctor was quite young looking to. If Robin hadn't searched for his file and saw that he was middle aged, he would have guessed that he was about 30. But Robin continued on with the mission. He knew by now that looks can be deceiving - that was one of the first lessons Batman ever taught him. After the handshake, Dr. Töten reached into his jacket pocket and produced a small needle. With another wave to the crowd, Dr. Töten nodded, and handed it over to the President. That was Robin's cue.<p>

* * *

><p>M'Gann hovered just next to the volunteer HIV patient. It was a teenaged boy with sickly pale skin. He looked weak and frail and consumed with excitement at the possibility of being cured that evening. It broke M'Gann's heart to watch him smile with anticipation, as she knew that if the drug wasn't poisonous, the boy would probably never have hope of being cured. Still though, she had a mission.<p>

Suddenly, there was a soft booming sound from the middle of the crowd. Then, a light cloud of harmless gas started to drift into the sky. That was her cue.

* * *

><p>Superboy pressed himself against the steel of the helicopter. Waiting for some sort of signal to start holding the plane down. As he waited, he spotted two pilots sitting in the cockpit. They seemed to be talking about something. So, Superboy raised his eyebrow and activated his super hearing. While they were talking in German, Superboy had enough knowledge to translate it into English for himself.<p>

"I don't know, man. I'm starting to feel bad," said the pilot on the right.

The pilot on the left moaned. "About what?"

The pilot on the right looked at him skeptically. "In two months that kid, _and_ most of Africa, are going to be dead! You know the doctor laced the drug with something,"

"Of course I know," snapped the pilot on the left. "Why do you care all of a sudden?"

"I just feel bad," grumbled the pilot on the right.

The pilot on the left rolled his eyes. "Think about it this way," he said turning up the heater. "The population will decrease and most of the illness will disappear. We're solving half of the worlds problems right there,"

"But we're _killing_ people," stressed the pilot on the right.

The pilot on the left gave him a side-glance. "We're not killing _people_," he muttered. "We're saving pure people from the filth of this planet,"

The pilot on the right frowned. "Y'know, you're starting to sound a lot like the doctor. Fascism is over! The only reason why I'm helping to people is because of the money!"

"Well then do you job and don't say anything stupid. You're lucky the doctor can't hear you. He'd kill you if he heard the way you were talking,"

Superboy frowned. So the drug was poisoned. And now these racist pigs were so close to killing millions of people just because of where they came from. Superboy felt as though he should smash the plane and the drug into the ground. But he had to wait for his signal. Suddenly, he saw a small cloud of smoke going into the air, the mutters, gasps, and small screams of people in the crowd, and watched as the needle disappeared from the Presidents hand.

"Shit! We have to get out of here," said the pilot on the left as he scurried to start the plan. That was Superboy's cue.

* * *

><p>Team B watched as the events unraveled in front of their eyes. M'Gann (although still invisible) was drifting up to the Bioship waiting for command. Superboy was using all of his strength to hold the helicopter down, and Robin was rushing the helicopter in order to grab the rest of the medication.<p>

"_M'Gann_," said Kaldur. "_Once the drug is secure, go help Team C_,"

"_Copy that, Kaldur_," said M'Gann.

Roy squinted as he scanned the crowd. "I can't even spot them… oh,"

Looking to the opposite end of the field, he saw Team C battling was a group of masked men. The were still behind a group of bushes, so they remained out of sight from the public.

"Roy, head down and calm the press. I'll help Robin with the helicopter, and then secure Dr. Töten," instructed Kaldur.

Roy nodded and hopped over the ledge of the roof. Climbing quickly down, he landed on the steps of the of the White House were security started to gather and a very angry Dr. Töten was yelling at the president in German.

Kaldur, using his power to control water, created a platform for himself and floated down to the helicopter were Robin was having a bit of trouble commandeering the plane. When Kaldur reached him, he turned his streams of water into mallets and forced the two pilots out of the plane. With only a quick nod as thanks, Robin hopped into the plane and turned it off, finally giving Superboy a break. "The medication is still in tacked," reported Robin from the cockpit as he hacked into the computer.

"Good. Now, let's gather the medication and take it to the Bioship," said Kaldur. Robin nodded and turned to helicopter on to fly it to the Bioship. As the medication went up, Kaldur glanced over at Roy. He was in the middle of a heated discussion between the President and Dr. Töten. It was that night where Kaldur decided he would never enjoy working in politics.

* * *

><p>"This is an outrage!" yelled Dr. Töten from the stage. The president had turned a new shade of white and was darting his eyes between Roy and Dr. Töten.<p>

"W-What's going on Red Arrow?" stammered the President.

Roy glanced out into the crowd. The paparazzi were killing each other to reach the stage first, and security was struggling to hold them back. Roy placed his hand on the President's shoulder and leaned in. "We have reason to believe the medication was poisoned. We can't disclose anymore information, but you will be contacted once the results come in," explained Roy very calmly.

"Poisoned?" the President gasped. "But-"

"All in good time. Now, I suggest that you tell everyone that helicopter just malfunctioned, and that it must have been the works of the Injustice League that made the medication disappear," whispered Roy.

"And what do I tell Dr. Töten?" asked the nervous President.

Roy looked over to the fuming doctor, then back to the president. "Make up some lie. You're a politician, you should be good at that," said Roy with a sly grin. The president gave him a disapproving look, but nodded and happily obliged.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, during the seemingly flawless execution of the other operation, Team C was having a hard time controlling their mission. It was four vs. three and, needless to say, the odds weren't in their favor.<p>

Flint and Apollo were having a battle to the death, using all of their strength to end the others life. "You've gotten better little bro," taunted Flint as he sent his fist crashing into Apollo's neck. Flint was extremely unpredictable. His fighting style changed with every punch, every kick. Only Apollo seemed to be able to keep up with him.

Artemis and Wally were having a harder time holding off the other three guys. They were all triplet brothers wearing the same all black outfit, causing both Artemis and Wally to loose track of their locations. Luckily, Artemis was able to take one of them out with her arrows, but the other two were in too close of a range. She had to fight one of them hand to hand while Wally took care of the other. She was a good fighter, but so was this man she was fighting.

"You ask kids for help little bro?" asked Flint as he and Apollo were sparing. "I expected more out of you,"

"And I expected it to be more of a challenge to find you. Guess we both let ourselves down," said Apollo as he punched Flint hard in the mouth.

But Flint didn't stay down. Instead, he hoped right back up and snarled. "Let's dance, Ape Man," he said whipping some blood from his face.

"Bring it, you son of a bitch,"

"Surprised to hear you talking about mother that way," smirked Flint.

"Surprised dad didn't kill you, you annoying little shit,"

Then Flint paused. He relaxed his body and bowed his head. "How about we do this the way we did when we were younger?" he asked. Suddenly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handgun. "Let's play with the toys,"

Apollo was just fast enough to jump out of the way of the bullet, and take cover behind one of the stone posts at the gate. He then pulled out his little black box and molded it into a Desert Eagle. Taking a shot at Flint, he missed and watched as Flint copied his action and take cover behind a small tree.

* * *

><p>Wally had decided that the best way to take his guy out would be to suffocate him. And since the guy was much bigger, Wally would have to do it his own way.<p>

He started by running in small fast circles around the guy. The wind vortex would create a loss of oxygen for the man and cause him to pass out. Wally picked that one up from Red tornado when he went haywire. Lucky for Wally, his plan worked as in only a short amount of time, the man had fallen to his knees, gasping for air. Unluckily for Wally, his foot got caught on a rock and caused him to trip.

"Klutzy kid," laughed the man, still gasping for air. He was about to attack Wally once more when out of nowhere, and arrow zoomed onto his and shocked him hard enough to pass out. Wally turned to see Artemis standing not so far away. Her bow still raised.

* * *

><p>Flint and Apollo had fired at least ten shots by now, and were growing impatient. It needed to end, and it needed to end tonight. Apollo took a moment to reassemble his gun into a bazooka. The time had come. Aiming it for Flint's side of the battle felid, Apollo fired the rocket, and watched as a mushroom cloud of fire exploded once the rocket had hit the other end. What he did not see, however, was the sight of his brother being blown to high heaven. Where was Flint?<p>

"BOOM!"

Out of thin air came a pair of feet crashing into Apollo's face. Flint had survived. They wrestled for a bit, however, Flint eventually gained the upper hand and pinned Apollo down.

"I win Mother Fucker," yelled Flint into Apollo's ear. "I-"

Then Flint stopped. He stopped because Apollo had logged a small knife into his liver. He stopped, because he was going to die.

Collapsing to the ground, Flint attempted to pull the knife from his side, but it was no use. Looking over, Flint saw his brother stand over him – M16 in hand.

Flint started to laugh. "I guess it ends here, little brother-"

Apollo held the gun to Flint's head and aimed it. "Only to be continued in hell older brother,"

BANG. Flint was dead. The war was over.

Apollo collapsed over the body of his dead brother. No tears, not smiles, just staring. His whole family was gone, and it was by his hand. So, there was nothing for him to do, but stare. Stare into the eyes of his only worthy appointment, the killer of innocents, the bastard of the family. His brother. "Tell the devil to go fuck himself," murmured Apollo as spat on Flint's mask. "… And that I'll see him soon," he added as he removed the mask and kissed Flint's forehead.

* * *

><p>"Two down, one to go, Kid Klutz," called out Artemis to Wally with a smile. Wally looked over at the knocked out man, then smiled back at Artemis, and took the short amount of time he had to admire her beauty. There should stood – battle ridden; yet still glowing with her adolescent attractiveness.<p>

And then it hit him.

He liked her.

He liked the way she could call him out on his mistakes. He liked the way she could take a hit. He liked the fact that she wasn't superficial or overly girly. He liked how her blonde hair hung gracefully from her skull. But, most importantly, he liked _her_. Artemis. He wanted to tell her. Right then and there he wanted to tell her how her felt.

That was, until he saw the third man sneak up behind her; then his priorities changed. "Artemis! Behind you!" yelled Wally. But, once again, it was too late. Before Artemis had time to react, the man grabbed her by the arm and through her to the ground. Before she, or anyone else for the matter, could do anything about it, the man raised his foot and stomped as hard as he could on her rib cage. The shriek of pain that Artemis released was almost defining, and pierced through Wally's ears like a sharp blade. "ARTEMIS!" he screamed, but he couldn't be heard - not over her cries and whales of pain.

"Say good night girly," taunted the man.

Wally growled. This was it. This was like the scene from his dream. The dream where he could have reacted, could have saved her. But instead, sat to the side and did nothing. But not this time. With the strength that he had left Wally hopped up and charged at the man before he could harm Artemis anymore. Tackling him down to the ground, Wally pinned him down and began to punch him in the face, using his super speed to his advantage. "I'll kill you!" he yelled as his punched became faster and faster.

"Wally! Wally stop!" Apollo's hand shot out from behind him and grabbed one of the flailing wrist. Wally tried to resist him. He wanted to kill this man. He wanted to kill that man for hurting Artemis. Apollo, however, just looked at him, and in the calmest, most sane voice Wally had ever heard, he said "He's had enough,"

Wally looked back to the man that he was punching and saw that his jaw was completely unhinged, his face with covered with bruises, most of his teeth were missing, and blood was spewing from his mouth. Wally punched him one last time before running over to Artemis. The whole fight was over. The mission was completed. And now, it was time to worry about the fallen warrior.

When Wally reached Artemis, she was in the most hysterical way Wally had ever seen her. He could tell just from looking at her that her rib cage was completely shattered to an extent Wally didn't know. What he did know, was that it was bad enough for some of the bones to break through the skin, tearing right through the flesh and letting scarlet blood flow from her body onto the bright green grass. Her screams were loud enough to be heard throughout the city, and her arms and legs were flailing about. Wally didn't know how to control that situation. He couldn't touch her, or it would get worse, and he couldn't fix because he didn't know how.

"M'Gann, get over here, Artemis is hurt," said Apollo ik. M'Gann appeared in moments and almost screamed herself at the sight. "M'Gann, levitate her to the Bioship, and make sure she doesn't change position. She has to get back right now,"

"Let me carry her. I'll get there faster than the Bioship," begged Wally.

"No. The run will make the damage worse. Just get on the Bioship,"

"But-,"

"Now,"

* * *

><p>Once they arrived at the Mountain, Roy and Apollo wasted no time getting Artemis to the infirmary. "I'll call the Justice League," said Roy sternly.<p>

"No time. I can treat her. But we have to do it now," said Apollo. Roy nodded and the two rushed off to the infirmary – The team and the floating Artemis close behind. Once M'Gann had Artemis rested on a bed, they were shoed out of the room. "Wait outside," said Roy sternly.

"But-" pleaded Wally. He needed to be in there. By her side, helping her through it. But Roy didn't listen, instead he just locked them outside.

Wally banged on the door "Let me in!" he screamed, small tears forming in his eyes. Robin grabbed him on the shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"We should rest. She's in good hands," he instructed. Wally paused, but listened to his friend. After all, there wasn't a lot her could do.

But the group didn't rest. Instead, the sat just outside of the infirmary, listening to Artemis's cries. They didn't know what Roy and Apollo were doing in there, but what ever it was caused Artemis a lot of pain. Every five seconds, a shrill of screams would be composed by Artemis and echoed throughout the entire mountain, followed by light begging for them to stop… whatever it was they were doing. Needless to the say, the group was tense.

M'Gann had completely broken down. Burying her face him Superboy's shoulder she wept louder every time Artemis screamed in pain. Superboy held M'Gann close and gave her a squeeze every time her heard Artemis whale in agony. He to felt just as tortured as M'Gann, but knew he had to be strong for her. Aqualad used his arm for support as he leaned against the wall. He too react to Artemis's scream by letting a worried look sweep over his face. His eyes would shut tight and his lips would twist together. Robin sat on a small armchair, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clamped together. Listening to Artemis's screams would result in his squeezing his hands together and clenching his jaw.

Wally on the other hand, was a complete mess. In fact, he was past the stage where he could be considered a complete mess. He was frantic. He would sit, get up and walk around, knock something over, then scream himself to the high heavens. It wasn't until he had repeated this step over and over again that finally fell to his knees and began to ball his eyes out. "I could have stopped it," he cried "I could have stopped him. I could have saved her,"

Robin stood from the chair and joined Wally on the floor. "You did all that you could-"

Wally, in a fit of rage, pushed Robin over. "No! I could have reacted faster! I could have-"

"No," said a very weak Aqualad. Slowly, he turned to face Wally. "No you couldn't have. What happened tonight was nobody's fault. And Artemis will be fine,"

But at that moment, it was the sound of Artemis's voice that silenced everyone. Faintly, they could hear her speaking on the other side of the infirmary door. "… please … please don't. Just wait one- AAHH!"

The shaky voice turned scream knocked Wally over the edge. Disregarded the calls of his team and the instructions of Roy, he ran into the infirmary. Nothing would hold him back.

And what he saw, was traumatizing.

Artemis's shirt (along with her bra) was off and tossed lazily in the far corner of the room. Roy stood behind the bed and pressed her wrists firmly into the mattress, trying to keep them from moving around. Blood and gaping holes of ripped tissue drenched both her chest and most of her stomach. Apollo had his hands all over her body, frantically moving them around to fix the bone. Wally couldn't stop staring. When he became Kid Flash, he knew he would have to get used to sights such as these. But to see it for the first time, let alone on the girl he loved…

"God damn it, Wally!" yelled Roy, snapping him out of his gaze. "If you have to be in here, than stop acting like a pubescent teenager! She has boobs! Now get over it, and got over here!" he demeaned. Wally didn't even realized that her breast were exposed. He just rushed to Roy's side.

"What going on? What are you doing to her?" asked Wally.

"The bones in her rib cage were broken to shit. Apollo's trying to put them back in place before casting her up," explained Roy.

"Can he do that?" asked Wally.

"Yes, _he_ can," sneered Apollo. "I spent a year living with an aboriginal medicine man in Quebec. He taught me how to do this kind of stuff,"

"And you didn't sedate her?" yelled Wally in anger.

"No time!" muttered Apollo as he pressed on a strategic part of Artemis's torso, causing her to scream once more. "No be helpful and grab her wrists so Roy can hold her legs down," Wally nodded and took Artemis's wrists. At first, he was surprised at how strong she was. It was quite the effort to hold her down.

"Artemis. It's going to be okay," comforted Wally. Artemis's looked up at him. Tears in her eyes and worry on her face. She then screamed again and Wally tightened his grip. "It will be over soon. I promise,"

The three hero's spent another half hour in the infirmary working together to restructure Artemis's bones. Right before Artemis passed out from all the pain, Apollo snapped the last bone back into place. She was almost completely out while he wrapped her torso up in gauze and composed a cast for her to wear. When Apollo was all finished, Artemis fell asleep.

"She should be fine with just that for now," said Apollo as he washed the blood off his hands. "But the Justice League may want to look when they get here," he added.

"I'll call them right now," confirmed Roy as he rotated his wrists – trying to loosen them up after trying to hold down Artemis's strong flailing legs for the past hour. "Wally, you should go tell the team that she's okay – … Wally?"

Wally wasn't listening to either of them. Instead, his eyes were glued to Artemis. She lay still and peaceful. Her face was red from crying so hard, and whatever bits of her torso that could be seen from around her cast were extremely swollen. "I'm not leaving her,"

Roy glanced over at Apollo before placing a hand on Wally's shoulder. "Wally – ," he tried to comfort, but it was no use.

Wally pushed his hand away and rushed to Artemis's side. "I'm staying here. You tell the team she's alright, but I'm not going anywhere,"

Apollo shrugged. "Sound noble to me. Give her some pain killers when she wakes up. I'm off to find a pudding cup. Want one?"

Wally didn't even acknowledge Apollo's commented. He was to busy hovering over Artemis's sleeping body to notice that Roy and Apollo had left the infirmary. Locating a near by chair, he pulled it over to her bedside and took a seat. Giving her one last smiled before he to felt his eyes closed, he leaned in an whispered "Sweet dreams blondey,"


	4. Chapter 4

Wally was woken up only minutes later to the sound of faint whimpering. After his eyes flew open, he spotted Artemis. She was laying out flat on the bed with her hands resting gently on top of her new cast. Her face was blotchy, red, and stained with fresh tears. Strands of her long blonde hair had escaped from her ponytail and were now stuck to her face. Although a thin blanket was covering them, Wally could see the outlines of her legs – they were clamped together and gently shivering. It wasn't hard to see the Artemis was still in a lot of pain, and yet, trying to be passive of it.

"Artemis…" whispered Wally. Her head snapped in his direction at the sound of his voice. Her hands followed suit, and shot up to her face, trying to wipe away any tears that he might have noticed.

"Hey," she said weakly. Her voice was meek and shaky and her grey water-filled eyes were looking anywhere but to Wally's. Wally smirked to himself. Just like her to be to full of pride to admit that she was in a ton of pain. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

He grinned at her. "I'm your whinny little biatch, remember?" he joked.

Artemis was able to create a small chuckle before her voice fell back into a series of whimpers. "We got the drug?" she asked.

Wally nodded. "They're testing it right now," he confirmed. Artemis smiled feebly at him. "You have to stop saving my life by the way," he smirked. "It hurts my ego to keep thanking you," he added awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

Artemis shrugged. "We're a team. That's what we do. You don't need to thank me,"

Wally looked up at her and made his face become completely serious. "… But I want to," Artemis looked back at him, and for a moment – their eyes were locked. "Thank you," he said.

Artemis shot him another smile before glancing over at the door to the infirmary. "You should probably tell the team that I'm awake now. Knowing M'Gann she's probably a mess," said Artemis, trying to joke.

Wally look over his shoulder to the door, then back to Artemis. "They can wait a few more minutes," he shrugged. He watched her as she slowly nodded her head, then drum her delicate, yet strong, fingers on her fresh cast.

"I thought cramps were bad," she giggled to herself.

Wally looked away – feeling a little awkward at the comment that she made, but trying hard not to show it. "Apollo wanted me to give you some pain killers when you woke up," mentioned Wally as he dashed to the other end of the infirmary and back again. When he arrived back at Artemis's side, he was holding a small container of pain killers and a glass of water from the sink.

But when Artemis went to reach for the pills, she cringed and snatched her hand back. Letting out a slight moan of pain, she tilted her head forward and gasped a little. "Fucking hurts," she spewed.

Wally bit his lip. She need the pills to feel better, but she couldn't do it herself. In his mind, their was only one solution. "Open your mouth," he said quickly.

Artemis eyed him. "What?"

"You heard me," he said as he placed the glass of water carefully on the ground.

"Wally, I-" Artemis was about to protest, but was silenced at the cracking sound of Wally opening the bottle of pills, defeating the child-locked lid.

"You _want_ to be in pain?" he asked.

Artemis sighed and tilted her head back. Wally gulped – his nervous hormones were bouncing around, out of control. Tipping the bottle into the direction of his free hand, a small pill landed in his palm – almost taunting him as he knew he would know have to put the pill in her mouth.

"Well, West?" she asked impatiently.

Wally gulped again and held his breath. Carefully, he planted to of his fingers onto her lips and dropped the pill into her mouth, feeling grateful that it landed right on the center of her tongue. He then quickly picked up the water from the floor, and gently poured a bit of it into Artemis's mouth. She swallowed the mixture flawlessly and sighed. "Thanks," she murmured.

"Don't mention it,"

"Fine then, I won't," she winked. Wally laughed, then silence.

"Hey-" started Artemis, catching Wally's attention. "Were you really staring at my boobs,"

In this scenario, Wally could honestly shake his head. "To be honest, I was focusing more on the slasher flick happening on your torso," he admitted, gesturing to her cast.

Artemis twisted her lip and looked down. "Well that was a slap in the face," she said. "I was hoping for some awkward blushing and a half-assed story. Now my ego is bruised _and_ I can't even call you a pig," she sighed.

Wally laughed. "Well, from what I did see, they were very nice," he winked.

Artemis smiled. "Thanks… pig," Wally laughed again. And then silence ensued once more.

"Have the pills kicked in yet?" asked Wally. He realized that he had spoken too soon as tears began to flood her eyelids once more.

"N-no," she stuttered.

"Shh – Artemis. It's okay," he comforted.

"It hurts so much," she cried as the tears started to flow down her cheeks. Wally didn't respond. Instead, he sat there quietly, arm around her shoulders, letting her cry out all of her pain. To him, that moment was perfect. He was there for her, and finally, she had let her guard down and acted more human than usual. She wasn't guarding herself over holding the tears back, she was letting him in on all of her woes, and for that, Wally was at peace.

"And she's up ladies and gentlemen!" called Apollo as he burst into the room. "Glad to see – oh; a moment. Whoops," he blushed, noticing that Wally and Artemis were somewhat canoodling at this point. "I wanted to check up on your cast, but I can come back later – "

"No, it's okay," said Wally, peeling his arm away from Artemis. He was finally able to completely and totally trust Apollo now. Cause he knew that somewhere in his heart, he had Artemis.

"Actually, Wally, could you grab me something to eat? I'm starving," asked Artemis. Wally smiled at her and exited the room with out question. Apollo, however, didn't let the scene he witnessed go unnoticed.

"Bow chicka wow wow," he sang. Artemis shot him a disproving smile. "Guess the kid finally grew a pair and made the moves on you, huh?" he asked.

"He's nice," said Artemis, leaning back into her pillows. "But I'm sure he doesn't think of me in that way. He was just trying to be polite," she sighed.

"And what about you? Do you think about him that way?" asked Apollo as he tapped at her cast, making sure everything was okay.

Artemis was too strong to admit anything yet, she just frowned "Whatever," she snapped. Apollo chuckled as he dabbed a wet cloth on the top of her forehead. Moments later, Artemis looked over at him. "Can I ask you a question?"

"I believe you just did," he smiled.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Can I ask you two questions?" she clarified. Apollo snickered, then nodded. But Artemis bit her lip before asking. "How did you do it?"

Apollo looked at her with question. "Well... it's pretty simple: You dip the cloth into a bowl of water, then-"

"Kill them. Your father, brother – you just did it,"

Apollo shrugged. "It was simple; I took a gun, I aimed, I –"

"That's not what I mean," snapped Artemis. Apollo looked at her before she spoke again. "How _could_ you do it? They were your family-"

"They were fuck-faces," corrected Apollo with a hint of sophistication in his voice.

"Well, yeah," admitted Artemis quietly. "But that doesn't mean they still weren't your family,"

Apollo clicked his tongue as he re-soaked the cloth in cool water before applying it to Artemis's forehead. "I see your point," he acknowledged. "But that doesn't change who they were. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Even if it's in the name of revenge. If it helps others, then that's a bonus. They were bad people; to me and my mother. They were going to hurt others if I didn't stop them, and there was only one way to do that…" Apollo let his voice trail off a bit, and disregarded the cloth completely and began to wipe a dry one over Artemis's forehead. Artemis studied his face. This was the most serious she had ever seen him. "If we keep running from our past, it will only catch up with us. When it does, we usually aren't ready. So you might as well face it full throttle as soon as you can, right?" he shrugged as he tossed the cloth into the waste basket.

Artemis neither replied nor nodded. Instead, she let her thoughts drift to her own family with Apollo's words fresh in mind. Her father and her sister were killing people, and there was only one way to stop _them_. But in her own heart, she couldn't kill them, but she knew she might have to one day. And even though she didn't want to, the best way to get help from the team was to confess her past to them first. However, to her, that was challenge enough.

"Whelp. It was nice knowing you, hot stuff," said Apollo as he stood from the chair.

Artemis glanced up at him. "Where are you going?"

Apollo thought on it. "I don't know. But my work is done here,"

"You can still stay with us," she offered meekly.

Apollo smiled at her. "Do you really want someone as fucked up as me living with you children?" he asked with a wink. Artemis chuckled. Then, gently, Apollo took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "See you later. Call me when you're legal. We'll do … stuff," he joked. "Wally can … watch I guess. I'd let him join in, but I'm not into that – if you catch my drift," he winked. Artemis laughed as Apollo spun on his heels and walked to the door.

"Thanks," she called. "For everything,"

Apollo glanced around the room. A confused expression was plastered on his face. "For what?" he asked.

* * *

><p>In only a few minutes later, Apollo had packed his bag and was patiently awaiting for his 'ride' to come pick him up just outside of the mountain. "Well, gang. It sure was swell to solve the mystery with you," said Apollo as he shifted the weight of his bag from one shoulder to the other. "I only hope that the drug tested-"<p>

"Positive!" shouted Roy as he stumbled out of the mountain. In his hands was a small slip of white paper. "The drug tested positive for poisonous chemicals," he announced as he showed the slip of paper to the rest of the team (all but Artemis who was still in bed). Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

Then, a hot-air balloon appeared in the sky above the mountain. In it was a woman with a long, curly beard and two hefty Middle Eastern men. They all waved down to Apollo. Apollo waved back contently, then focused his attention back to the group. "That's my ride," he smiled as the group in the balloon slowly lowered down a rope for him to climb on.

Robin blinked at the sight "How-?"

"I ran away with a Middle Eastern circus when I was little," shrugged Apollo. Robin scratched his head, but shook it off. Apollo would be gone in a few moments anyway.

"I guess this is where we say good bye," said Apollo.

He turned to Roy and embraced him in a huge bear-hug. "Thanks for helping me find my brother. If we're ever in the same part of the world again, call me up – we'll do the whole 'fight crime' and 'bring villains to justice' thing," Roy laughed and patted him on the back.

"Good bye, M'Gann. And take my advise: Want to know what earth is really like? You should watch _True Blood_ or anything on 'HBO'," suggested Apollo. M'Gann cocked an eyebrow at him, but shrugged it off and smiled. After a quick embrace, Apollo sniggered to himself – only imagining what M'Gann would do if she ever actually watch _True Blood_.

"Kaldur-" Apollo paused and scratched his chin in thought. "-get yourself a girl friend. It looks like everyone else is getting laid around here _but_ you. And you have the most to work with, if I do say so myself,"

"I do not think-"

"Come here," said Apollo as he wrapped Kaldur up in an awkward hug – cutting the young leader off in mid sentence. "So long, Supes. Try to loosen up a bit, eh?" suggested Apollo at they shook hands. Superboy nodded and Apollo moved on.

"Robin, I bid you farewell. And remember: You don't have to be like Batman to be a good hero," Apollo advised. Robin nodded as the two preformed their 'secret' handshake.

Then, Apollo faced Wally. He sighed. "Wally, Wally, Wally," he said with a smile. "Consider yourself a lucky son of a bitch. Any other guy would if they even had the _chance_ to hook up with Artemis," said Apollo.

The rest of the team glanced at Wally. "You and Artemis?" asked Roy. His voice was filled with both disbelief, and with the tone of 'I don't care'.

"I knew it all along!" teased Robin, snickering under his glasses.

"Oh my God! This is exciting!" squealed M'Gann.

"I am very happy for the both of you," smiled Kaldur.

"I guess I am too?" said Superboy.

"Dude?" yelled Wally at Apollo.

Apollo just laughed and hopped onto the rope. As the balloon drifted away, the team watched Apollo drift off into the horizon. They all knew that they were probably never see him again, but the words of wisdom he left them with would stay in their hearts forever.

* * *

><p>When the balloon was fully out of sight, the team retired to the usual routine. Wally, however, dashed back to the infirmary, where Artemis sipped at a smoothie that Wally had previous prepared for her. "So, he's gone then?" she asked in more of a statement tone. Wally nodded and Artemis twirled the straw with her tongue around her mouth. "I'm going to miss him," she confessed quietly.<p>

"Wanna hear something weird?" asked Wally, taking a seat next to her on the edge of the bed. "I think I will too,"

Artemis chuckled, then snuggled her head back into her pillows. After a slight paused, Artemis bit her lip and looked up at Wally. "I've got something weirder, West," When he looked to face her, the corners of her mother turned up. "I think I'm falling for you,"

Wally froze for a moment, the gave her a small smile back. Giving her hand a quick squeeze, he said, "That's nothing. I think I've _fallen_ for you,"

Artemis sighed and gazed into Wally's emerald green eyes. "We should go out sometime," she pointed out.

Wally used his free hand to rub the back of his neck. "I thought I was supposed to ask _you_ that. Isn't it tradition, or manners, or something?" asked Wally.

Her eyes narrowed at him "Fine then. Ask me," she challenged.

Wally opened his mouth, but the clamped it shut an instance later, letting a giant smirk spread across his face. "I would… but you're injured. You should probably get some rest," he chuckled.

Artemis frowned and rolled her eyes. "You could at least of the decency to-" Suddenly, she was silenced when a pair of strong lips fell onto hers. The owner of said lips was Wally, and she didn't mind. The kiss was exhilarating, and left them both tickling and aching for more. However, they did eventually break, to which Artemis smirked at him. "Sucks to be you, you have to wait weeks before we can do that again,"

Wally chuckled. "Guess I didn't think that all the way through,"

Artemis giggled, then gestured for him to snuggle in next to her. Wally happily obliged and carefully wrapped his arm around the exposed and unharmed section of her belly that sat just below the cast. She hissed a little when he accidently touched a sore spot. This reminded Wally of her injury. Looking down at the cast, Wally saw the face of the man he almost caused to choke to death on his own blood. The scary part was, Wally could easily do it again. That man had almost taken Artemis away from him, and Wally wasn't about to let that happen. "I would have killed him, y'know – the guy who did this to you," said Wally calmly as he glided his finger along the edge of her cast.

Artemis nodded as she watched his finger trace up and down the edge of the cast. "I know. And I'm glad you didn't. That choice would have effect you for your whole life, and I don't want a moping boyfriend to deal with," she winked as she took his hand in hers.

Wally adjusted the position of his head so he could face her. "You really do care for me then, huh?" he noted.

Artemis gave him a small peck on the top of his forehead. "I always care for my whinny little biatch's," she joked.

And with that, the two spent the rest of the day sitting around and laughing at life. Although it might have birthed from a tragedy, something beautiful had sparked between them.

* * *

><p><em>Apollo's Journal – February 3rd<em>_, 2012_

_Alas, I find myself with a new group of complete strangers. This odd looking group of Middle Eastern people that I flagged down are awfully hospitable to a guy they'd never seen before. But it is not their odd presences that irk me so. It is the blood of my brother in which my hands are drenched. A part of me understands that it was my moral obligation to end his life, but for the most part, I question my choices. He was, after all, my brother. But I guess seeing young love start anew kind of blurs out all of the feelings of woe and depression. I can honestly say that I rejoice in the uniting for Wally and Artemis. True, that's one less babe I get to bang, but they both seem happy, something that's rare on this planet. Either way, I hope things work out. Actually, scratch that, I hope that the bearded woman will stop grabbing my ass. Although, she is quite attractive. Should make special note to check for male extremities before performing a possibly banging with her. Hugs and Kisses, Apollo._

* * *

><p><strong>Well that's the last chapter, but I think I'll be adding a 'deleted scene' soon. Either way;<strong>

**The End!**

**You know the drill! It's time to review!**


	5. Deleted Scene: Apollo's Story

**This is the 'deleted scene' I was talking about...**

**I (now regrettably) switched out this scene at the last second, and replaced it with the drug scene. I did it because the subject matter in this scene is quite harsher. However, this scene also explained Apollo's madness, therefore I regret not putting it in. I hope you like it.**

* * *

><p>Upon reaching the kitchen, Wally and Artemis found that the room was already full with their other teammates. Superboy and M'Gann were sitting at the table, sharing a batch of cookies that M'Gann had made, Kaldur was standing in front of the sink filling up a glass of water, and Robin was raiding the fridge for… something. Wally immediately rushed to the cabinets and started raiding them for anything he could find. After only three seconds he had a box of oreos, two bags of potato chips, five banana's, a loaf of bread, a full jar of Nutella, and a cartoon of chocolate milk all spread out on the counter.<p>

"Pig," muttered Artemis. "Can I get you anything?" she asked Apollo sweetly.

"You know what? I'm dying for a bowl of shark-fin soup!" requested Apollo.

Artemis bit her lip and looked to the others for support. Everyone just stared back at her, waiting to hear her response to his outlandish question. "I don't think we have any," she said awkwardly.

"Blast! Oh well. Can I have a pudding cup?" he asked. Artemis smiled at him, and fetched him a chocolate pudding cup from the pantry along with a spoon from the drawer. "Cheers!" he cried as he plunged his spoon into the pudding cup.

Once Robin finally found the sandwich he had been scavenging for, he pulled it out and began chewing away on it. And awkward silence fell upon them after that, one that was only being filled by the sound of Apollo smacking his lips together with delight at the taste of the pudding.

"Umm… Apollo," started M'Gann, breaking the silence. Everyone shot her a surprised stare. Even Apollo who was probably just trying to mock them. "Roy said something about you being… uh… mentally ill?"

Aqualad practically chocked on the sip of water he was taking when he heard that. Which was a little strange since he lives in the water. However, the team looked at her – all shocked that she would bring that up.

Apollo, however, just smiled. "Indeed he did,"

"Well… I was just wondering… how-?"

"Did I become so mentally fucked up?" interrupted Apollo, finishing her sentence in a more vulgar way then she probably had intended.

M'Gann sighed and looked at her plate of cookies. She honestly didn't want to offend anyone. She just wanted to know how he had become 'crazy'. She had watched countless earth shows and movies and fought enough psychopaths to understand that there were crazy people, but never understood _how_ someone was crazy. She knew that most of the time, people were born with it. But something about the way Apollo acted hinted to her that there was more to the story. Hating herself for sounding rude, she nodded.

"I was wondering when you guys would ask me that!" he cheered and placed his pudding cup on the counter top.

The team shot puzzled looks at each other. "But you told us it was none of our-"

"It all started twenty years and nine month ago in a small village in Vietnam," began Apollo, reminiscing on his tragedies. "My mother was a simple high school student and my father was some insane asshole. I would find out later that he was in Vietnam for an assassination attempt to make on a political figure that wanted to wage war on America, but he seemed to have forgotten about that and turn his attentions to my mother. One day as she was walking home from school, he tried to make the moves on her by - how do I put this nicely - taking advantage of her,"

None of them had ever experienced taking a bullet to the stomach, but as Apollo shared that news, they all felt the blow of a bullet ripping through their insides.

"When he learned that she was pregnant with my brother, he stayed a while and raised him from for about two years. When he impregnated my mom again, he decided to let me live as well. Yet our family life wasn't to continue – my mom died in childbirth when I was born. I was saved but my dad never really forgave me for 'killing' her," he explained.

"Other then that, my childhood was pretty normal. School, friends, training to become an assassin like my father. Every time I would complain though; he'd beat. my head. against. the wall. to shut. me up," every time his words bounced off another syllable, Apollo would throw his head back to symbolize it being wacked against the wall. "He even tried electrocuting me once. Even though, ironically, that's used to stop people from being crazy," he said, laughing. No one else shared his laughter. Instead they all felt sick. "Anyway, I was about fifteen when I released that I didn't like that so much. I decided it would be better for me to help people. So, I ran away. Year later, here I am. Dad's dead and, with you help, my fuck-face of a brother with be dead too," he finished with a smile.

No one said a word for about a minute. M'Gann whimpered, but bit her lip so hard that nothing would spill out. Wally, for the first time in his life, couldn't finish his meal, and Robin was never more thankful for his glasses – protecting his sadness from view. Aqualad and Superboy remained stone faced. Not quite sure how to react. They both felt sad, but judging the expression on Apollo's face, the were more confused. Artemis was the only one who knew what to do. Gently, she took his hand and held it in hers for a second. When Apollo noticed this, he smiled at her. She smiled back and gave his hand a firm squeeze. "Well hey, enough of being sad," said Apollo. "Why don't we all grab out weapons and things and meet back here in a few minutes? I think we should start preparing," he said as-a-matter-of-fact-ly.

* * *

><p><strong>So that's the end of the <em>whole<em> story. **

**But before I go though, some of you were asking about the 'Apollo's Journal' bits. Here, I was parodying the 'Watchmen' comics. For those who don't know, it's a group of DC superheroes living in an alternate universe of the 80 (it's not too different from our earth, just some minor details). One of the heros (named Rorschach) does this internal monologue called 'Rorschach's Journal'. I changed it up a bit by having Apollo unknowingly say it out loud. Why? I don't know. Seemed funny at the time. For more clarity on the subject, just go to YouTube and find a few clips of **'Rorschach's Journal'. They might explain it better than me.****

**Whelp, I guess there's nothing left to do but REVIEW!**


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